community
by thom senzee
Barbra Blake: Using Professionally, Barbra Blake is a woman of science. Blake believes in analysis and puts her
DOLLARS OF LGBT BUYING POWER CAN SAY A LOT.
NINE BILLION
BUT WE NEED TO ASK, WHO ARE
WE GIVING OUR POWER TO?”
faith in results that can be measured. Yet by her own measurement, her nearly two-year tenure as CEO of the Greater San Diego Business Association has resulted in an organization that is measurably diminished in size since she took the reigns in February, 2014. “We’re at about 500 members now, down from about 550 when I came in,” says Blake, who has
a degree in molecular biology from UCSD and is currently a doctoral candidate in the philosophy of organizational management. “At a certain point, we were the second-largest LGBT chamber in the country.” That was circa 2008, four years before Blake came to GSDBA. But a perfect storm shook
organizations like GSDBA to their very foundations that same year. The economy had collapsed. Businesses were looking for ways to trim the fat just to survive. For many small companies, surviving the “Great Recession” meant membership dues for trade associations and professional organization’s had to fall by the wayside. At the same, social media grabbed the world’s attention. Chambers of commerce like GSDBA
were no longer needed by small business owners who were eager to connect with one another in ways that might grow their customer bases. “Networking events were chambers’ lifeblood,” says Blake. “Now they didn’t need us to find each other.” That’s when the steady decline of GSBDA commenced. “The organization was in perfect shape in 2007 and had a lot of money in the bank,” she says. “But then the membership started to go down. Engagement began to go down and the bank account also began to go down.” Blake agrees, some people in San Diego’s LGBT and allied business communities still think she’s GSDBA’s “new CEO,” even though she’s been
at the helm for 23 months. Blake also acknowledges that she’s kept her profile and to a lesser extent that of the chamber itself, fairly low since taking over. The reason, she says, is simple. She and her staff had to batten down the hatches and take stock of the damage she says the GSDBA had suffered in recent years. To put it more vividly, Barbra Blake and her team have been on a two-year mission to identify and cut out the rot wherever it festered at a GSDBA
that was “close to not making it” financially when she came on the scene as its CEO in February, 2014. “Part of the reason I think there’s a feeling that I’m new is because of what I’ve done since I got here,” Blake says, referring to the nearly 24-month fact-finding and foundation-rebuilding mission she says she’s been on since taking the organization’s top job. Blake says a perfect example of how fundamental the problems were that have plagued GSDBA could be found at the operation’s digital roots. According to her, its membership database was a disaster. “We didn’t have good systems,” she says. “I couldn’t ask a simple question like, ‘Who was at our last business social?’ or ‘Was so-and-so at our last event?’ To find the answer—maybe find the answer—it would take someone the entire day.” Now, having invested in an industry-standard software program called ChamberMaster, Blake is confident she has the right database tools and
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RAGE monthly | JANUARY 2016
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